Sugar Daddy

Let's say you've got a great idea for a new technology that could make our lives easier. Now if you could just get some sugar daddy to put up the funds for the basic research to get your dream machine on the road. Where do you turn? To the federal government or to private industry? In the not-too-distant past, the government was your best bet, because most funding for research came out of Washington.

CARACAS, Venezuela - In communist Cuba, people remember how painful it was to lose the patronage of the former Soviet Union, their longtime sugar daddy. They certainly don't want to lose another one. But that's the fear now gripping the island, as Cubans ponder the fate of Hugo Chavez, Venezuela's left-wing president, who recently underwent cancer surgery in Havana. Now back in a hospital in Venezuela, Chavez is reported to be undergoing a new and "difficult" round of chemotherapy, his condition a closely guarded secret.

A couple of years ago, Kirk Gibson of the Detroit Tigers said of a $1-million salary offer: "It makes me want to vomit." Aging Angel catcher Bob Boone recently refused $883,000 a year, saying he had too much pride to accept it. These and other pro athletes seem to have lost touch with reality, and television is largely responsible. Television has been sports' sugar daddy for 20 years. But the money is running out as competition for the advertising dollar increases.

Skechers , the Manhattan Beach footwear maker, has a new line of shoes targeted at teen girls, retailing at stores such as DSW and Dillard's. Sounds normal, until this: The collection is called “ Daddy' $ Money.” The sneakers have hidden 2-inch wedges. Designs include animal prints and lips, with names such as “Gimme Megabucks,” “Gimme Wicked” and “Gimme Mucho Dinero .” An accompanying video features singers crooning about “daddy's girls” with sound effects like a cash register's “ cha - ching .” The pitch on the brand's Facebook page: “Get spoiled with Daddy' $ Money, ultra-cool shoes that will put you in the spotlight with a dose of swag… ” Skechers did not immediately return requests for comment.

In the 1980s, the Orange County theme song in the highbrow arts went something like this: Hush little baby, don't you cry, daddy's gonna buy you a performing arts center for $73 million. The Brens and Segerstroms showed us how you get things done around here: With real estate money, and lots of it. In traditional arts circles, they call folks like that patrons; in the more earthy precincts of rock and pop, we just call 'em sugar daddies. And a sugar daddy (or mama) is just what the county pop scene needs in the 1990s.

Skechers , the Manhattan Beach footwear maker, has a new line of shoes targeted at teen girls, retailing at stores such as DSW and Dillard's. Sounds normal, until this: The collection is called “ Daddy' $ Money.” The sneakers have hidden 2-inch wedges. Designs include animal prints and lips, with names such as “Gimme Megabucks,” “Gimme Wicked” and “Gimme Mucho Dinero .” An accompanying video features singers crooning about “daddy's girls” with sound effects like a cash register's “ cha - ching .” The pitch on the brand's Facebook page: “Get spoiled with Daddy' $ Money, ultra-cool shoes that will put you in the spotlight with a dose of swag… ” Skechers did not immediately return requests for comment.

Dear Alana: I "accidentally" saw a colleague's pay stub. We have the same job title, similar backgrounds and have worked at the company for the same amount of time, but she makes significantly more than I do. Is there any way I can discuss this with my manager without getting myself in trouble for snooping? Mona in Los Angeles Dear Mona: I should tell you that snooping is bad and you should be troubling yourself about your nosy habits, not your pay stub.

Seeing Joe Robbie Stadium--the new $100-million home of the Miami Dolphins--rising out of the sand flats of South Florida, one thing comes to mind: Don't get Joe Robbie in a poker game and try to bluff him. That is what the city of Miami tried to do with the 71-year-old Dolphin owner. When civic administrators told him that they wouldn't build him a new stadium, that he could keep his team in the antiquated Orange Bowl and like it, Robbie called their bluff.

CARACAS, Venezuela - In communist Cuba, people remember how painful it was to lose the patronage of the former Soviet Union, their longtime sugar daddy. They certainly don't want to lose another one. But that's the fear now gripping the island, as Cubans ponder the fate of Hugo Chavez, Venezuela's left-wing president, who recently underwent cancer surgery in Havana. Now back in a hospital in Venezuela, Chavez is reported to be undergoing a new and "difficult" round of chemotherapy, his condition a closely guarded secret.

Maybe because I have made the same point to my colleagues, I was impressed by a Washington Times report this week headlined “ Decades-old law opened doors for big-money donors .” The important words are “decades old.” The conventional wisdom is that the much-reviled Citizens United decision opened the way for sugar daddies Foster Friess and Sheldon Adelson to spend megabucks furthering the candidacies of Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich,...

Los Angeles has a new, um, distinction. It's the No. 5 city in the world for sugar daddies - wealthy older men seeking “mutally beneficial relationships” with younger women, according to a poll released Tuesday by SeekingArrangement.com , a matchmaking website for the rich and randy. And Los Angeles is No. 1 in the amount of money that sugar daddies lavish on their “sugar babies.” The average Angeleno shells out a generous $5,710 a month on his inamorata - or “sugar addiction,” as it's known on SeekingArrangement.com.

From Reno — First of all, thanks to everyone who emailed to say they thought I should take some more vacation time. I had no idea so many people cared. As for those who also told me where to go, you're not far off, as we begin another vacation next week in Phoenix. That doesn't allow much time to explain what happened on the vacation I just finished. So we begin with Phil Weidinger , his old lady and Brett Butler . Some of you probably know Butler pretty well: 763 games over seven seasons with the Dodgers during the '90s, the jockey-sized hustler batting .298 in that time, maybe the high mark a standing ovation upon his return from beating cancer.

Dear Alana: I "accidentally" saw a colleague's pay stub. We have the same job title, similar backgrounds and have worked at the company for the same amount of time, but she makes significantly more than I do. Is there any way I can discuss this with my manager without getting myself in trouble for snooping? Mona in Los Angeles Dear Mona: I should tell you that snooping is bad and you should be troubling yourself about your nosy habits, not your pay stub.

August 13, 2000 | MIGUEL BUSTILLO, Miguel Bustillo is a Times staff writer based in Sacramento

What challenge does the world offer the Young Turks of Silicon Valley, the Wunderkinder who before age 40 achieved legendary status and wealth beyond their wildest dreams? Another start-up? Or might there be something more? * Fresh from making their fortunes and changing the world, many tech execs are beginning to see that power is not measured in megahertz alone. There's a whole country out there beyond their cubicles and computer screens, and someone needs to run it.

Indiana Coach Bob Knight walked on to the court at Northwestern's Welch-Ryan Arena Saturday with a bag of candy for a section of students whose chants of "Who's Your Daddy?" last year so enraged Knight it led to an angry confrontation with Wildcat Coach Kevin O'Neill. The students, who had been booing Knight, started laughing as he tossed red-and-white peppermints to them. "I just had a lot of candy. I wanted to share it," Knight said with a straight face after the game that his No.

From Reno — First of all, thanks to everyone who emailed to say they thought I should take some more vacation time. I had no idea so many people cared. As for those who also told me where to go, you're not far off, as we begin another vacation next week in Phoenix. That doesn't allow much time to explain what happened on the vacation I just finished. So we begin with Phil Weidinger , his old lady and Brett Butler . Some of you probably know Butler pretty well: 763 games over seven seasons with the Dodgers during the '90s, the jockey-sized hustler batting .298 in that time, maybe the high mark a standing ovation upon his return from beating cancer.

The "civic breakfast" in Beverly Hills on Wednesday was to precede a news conference urging a countywide ban on so-called "junk guns." But handguns weren't the only thing newly elected Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca was talking about. There was his proposal to open four--that's four, as in one more than three--new jail facilities, and to make one low-security facility for women only because "I trust them more."

The "civic breakfast" in Beverly Hills on Wednesday was to precede a news conference urging a countywide ban on so-called "junk guns." But handguns weren't the only thing newly elected Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca was talking about. There was his proposal to open four--that's four, as in one more than three--new jail facilities, and to make one low-security facility for women only because "I trust them more."

Let's say you've got a great idea for a new technology that could make our lives easier. Now if you could just get some sugar daddy to put up the funds for the basic research to get your dream machine on the road. Where do you turn? To the federal government or to private industry? In the not-too-distant past, the government was your best bet, because most funding for research came out of Washington.